The present invention relates to an exercise method for able-bodied individuals and for individuals who are suffering from muscular paralysis and who may or may not be confined to a wheelchair The use of electrical stimulation to activate paralyzed muscle groups as a mode of exercise is well known. Functional electrical stimulation (FES) has been found to increase the contraction speed of paralyzed skeletal muscles in addition to aiding in the prevention of the effects of atrophy and osteoporosis in the unused muscles and bones, respectively, of a paralyzed individual. Further, the use of exercise machines that provide an individual with the capabilities to perform isometric or isotonic exercises by the electrical stimulation of paralyzed muscles is also well known. However, the previous generations of exercise devices fail to provide an individual using the exercise machine the capability to actively stand on their own, and be supported within the device, while their muscle groups are being electrically stimulated for exercise under active or active resistive conditions.
Therefore, there is a need for an exercise device that can safely provide active and active resistive supported standing exercise options to persons who either have limited physical mobility or complete loss of mobility due to muscular paralysis.
There is also a need for a method to improve an individual's neuromuscular control following disuse, trauma, surgery, or from an unstable joint subsequent to ligament injury, disuse. The previous generations of exercise equipment do not apply a measurable resistance directly to the joint (ie back of the knee), which helps protect the joint by minimizing tangential forces (shear) and increasing compressive or axial loads.